Stock Futures Hold Gains After ADP Jobs Report

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- U.S. stock futures were holding gains Wednesday as investors digested better-than-expected jobs data and awaited the wrap-up of the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were rising 38 points, or 36.32 points above fair value, at 12,987. Futures for the S&P 500 were up 3 points, or 2.98 points above fair value, at 1378, while futures for the Nasdaq 100 were up 12.25 points, or 12.17 points above fair value, at 2649.

The Fed's statement surrounding its latest interest rate decision will be released at 2:15 p.m. EDT.

The announcement of a new bond-buying program, or QE3, from the central bank would be a surprise but there is an expectation for the Fed to start to lay the groundwork for such a move in the commentary around its rate decision on Wednesday afternoon. A change in the pledge to keep rates at historic lows for longer than currently telegraphed is viewed as likely.

Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG, described ahead of the conclusion of the meeting what kind of sectors or investments would do well if central banks over-accommodated.

"While we would meaningfully contemplate a tactical shift in favor of cyclically exposed areas of the equity market should central banks come in above our 'target,' it should also be noted that unless the support package, in the case of the Federal Reserve, is meaningfully above expectations -- somewhere around $500-$750 billion -- forward PE multiples are not like to expand as much as we've seen in the recent past," said Greenhaus. "QE2 and Operation Twist each added a full two turns in short order. In the case of QE2, this expansion was subsequently erased and in the case of the latter, we would note that Operation Twist coincided with the second LTRO Long-Term Refinancing Operation from the ECB."

The Automatic Data Processing jobs report released Wednesday said that employment in the U.S. nonfarm private business sector increased by 163,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis in July. Economists were expecting a figure of 120,000 for July. The estimated gain in June from May was revised down slightly, to 172,000 from the initial estimate of 176,000.